Sometimes the little guy wins.

Anthony Carnik walked out of a Reno courtroom late Thursday afternoon feeling vindicated after five years battling the corporate insurance world.

He also walked out with a nice little award from the jury, but that wasn't the point.

"The money has always been only a small part of this, but the way I've been treated is beyond words. It's just wrong."

The journey to this courtoom showdown began in March of 2004 on Kietzke Lane. Czarnik's car, a 1988 Honda Prelude, was rear ended. He and his dog Daisy suffered minor injuries. "We both got whiplash," Czarnik says.

There was no question of fault and no argument from the other driver's insurance company about his medical bills.

Beyond that Czarnik says he only asked 2 things then and now: bluebook value for his car--just $18 hundred dollars--and that the custom stereo system he had had installed in the Honda be reinstalled in another vehicle.

State Farm said it would pay for the car, which with a bent a-frame ,was totaled, but balked at reinstallation of the stereo system.

Czarnik, who is an audiophile and composer, wasn't asking for a new system, but says installing it cost him $2-thousand dollars. State Farm said no and kept saying no.

Others might have dropped the matter, Czarnik could not. "My attorney said I'm nuts," he admits. "He said he'd never talked with someone before who wanted to go to trial just to prove a point."

Czarnik kept the battered Honda as potential evidence and pressed on.
Five and a half years later it paid off.

The jury gave Anthony Czarnik the $18 hundred he was asking for the car, $2-thousand dollars he spent reinstalling his stereo system and attorney's fees. Altogether an award of about $8-thousand dollars.

"It wasn't about the money, it was about making the insurance company do the right thing."

"The best outcome here is not just that I get reimbursed for what has been taken from me, but that the insurance company maybe think twice about treating another person as badly."

What's unknown is how much the insurance company paid out to fight him all this time.

Funny thing about that. They weren't even the defendant in the case. By law Czarnik had to sue the other driver.

Czarnik says he suspects man to man, he and the other driver could have settled this long ago.

"He seemed like a nice enough guy and told me if I had any problems to call his insurance company."